of trouble: "But David encouraged himself in his God." 1 Sam. xxx. 6. You know when that was; if David's peace had not been right and sound, he would have been more troubled to think of God at such a time than of all his other disasters. "Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them." Psalm cxix. 165. This distinguisheth the saint's peace, both from the worldling's and the hypocrite's.

First, From the worldling's. His peace and comfort, poor wretch, runs dregs as soon as creature-enjoyments run a-tilt; when poverty, disgrace, sickness, or any thing else crosseth him, in that which he fondly doted on, then his night is come, and day shut up in dismal darkness. In which respect it is that Christ, as I conceive, opposeth his peace to the world's: "My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you; let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John xiv. 27. Pray mark, Christ is laying in arguments of comfort for his disciples against his departure, which he knew would go so near their hearts. One among the rest is taken from the difference of that peace and comfort which he leaves them from what the world gives: as if he had said, If the peace and comfort you have from me lay in such things as the world's peace is made up of, plenty, ease, outward prosperity, and carnal joy, truly then you had reason to be the greatest mourners at my funeral that ever followed friend to the grave; for after my departure, you are like to have none of these; nay, rather expect trouble and persecution. But know, the peace I leave with you, is not in your houses, but hearts; the comfort I give you lies not in silver and gold, but in pardon of sin, hopes of glory, and inward consolations, which the Comforter, that is to come from me to dwell with you, shall upon my appointment, pay into your bosoms; and this shall outlive all the world's joy. This is such a legacy as never any left their children. Many a father dying, hath in a farewel speech to his children, wished them all peace and comfort when he should be dead and gone; but who besides Jesus Christ could send a Comforter into their hearts, and thrust peace and comfort into their bosoms?

Again, It distinguisheth the true Christian's peace from the hypocrite's, who, though he pretends to place his comfort not in the creatures but in God, and seems to take joy in the interest which he lays claim to have in Christ and the precious promises of the Gospel, yet when it comes indeed to the trial, that he sees all his creaturecomforts gone, and not like to return any more, which at this time had his heart, though he would not it should be thought so, and now he sees he must in earnest into another world, to stand or fall eternally, as he shall then be found in God's own scrutiny to have been sincere or false-hearted in his pretensions to Christ and his grace, truly then his thoughts recoil, his conscience flies in his face, and reproacheth him for spiritual cozenage and forgery. Now, soul, speak, Is it thus with thee? does thy peace go with thee just to the prison-door, and there leave thee? art thou confident thy sins are pardoned all the while thou art in health and strength, but as soon as ever the sergeant knocks at the door, to speak with thee, death I mean comes in sight, then thy thoughts alter, and thy conscience tells thee he comes to prove thee a liar in thy pretended peace and joy? This is a sad symptom. I know indeed that the time of affliction is a trying time to grace that is true; the sincere Christian for a while may, like a valiant soldier, be beat from his artillery, and the enemy Satan may seem to possess his peace and confidence; yea so far have some precious saints been carried down the stream of violent temptations, as to question whether their former comforts were from the Holy Spirit the Comforter, or the evil spirit the deceiver; yet there is great difference between the one and the other.

First, They differ in their causes. This darkness, which sometimes is upon the sincere Christian's spirit in deep distress, comes from the withdrawing of God's lightsome countenance; but the horror of the other from his own guilty conscience, that before was lulled asleep with prosperity; but now, being awakened by the hand of God on him, doth accuse him to have been false with God in the whole course of his profession. It is true, some particular guilt may be contracted by the Christian, through negligence or strong temptation in his Christian course;

for which his conscience may accuse him, and may further imbitter the present desertion he is in so far, as from those particular miscarriages to fear his sincerity in the rest, though he hath no reason to do it; but his conscience cannot charge him of an hypocritical design to have been the spring that hath set him on work through the whole course of his profession.

Secondly, There is something concomitant with the Christian's present darkness of spirit that distinguisheth it from the hypocrite's horror; and that is the lively working of grace, which then commonly is very visible when his peace and former comfort are most questioned by him. The less joy he hath from any present sense of the love of God, the more abounding you shall find him in sorrow for his sin that clouded his joy; the further Christ is gone out of his sight, the more he clings in his love to Christ, and vehemently cries after him in prayer, as we see in Heman, Psalm 1xxxviii. 13. "Unto thee have I cried, O Lord, and in the morning shall my prayers prevent thee." O the fervent prayers that then are shot from his troubled spirit to Heaven, the pangs of affection, which are springing after God, and his face and favour! Never did banished child more desire admittance into his angry father's presence, than he to have the light of God's countenance shine on him, which is now veiled from him. O how he searcheth his heart, studies the Scripture, wrestles with God to give him that grace, the non-evidence of which at present makes him so question the comforts he hath formerly had; might he but have true grace, he will not fall out with God for want of comfort, though he stays for it till the other world. Never did any pregnant woman long more to have the child in her arms that is at present in her womb, than such a soul doth to have that grace, which is in his heart, but through temptation questioned by him at present, evidenced to him in the truth of it. Whereas the hypocrite, in the midst of all his horror, doth not, cannot (till he hath a better heart put into his bosom) cordially love or desire grace and holiness, for any intrinsical excellency in itself; only as an expedient for escaping the tormentor's hand, which he sees he is now falling into.

They differ in the issue. The Christian, he, like a star in the heavens, wades through the cloud that for a time hides his comfort; but the other, like a meteor in the air, blazeth a little, and then drops into some ditch or other, where it is quenched; or as the Spirit of God distinguisheth them: Prov. xiii. 9. "The light of the righteous rejoiceth, but the lamp (or candle, as in the Hebrew) of the wicked is put out." The sincere Christian's joy and comfort is compared there to the light of the sun, that is climbing higher while it is muffled up by clouds from our eye, and, by and by, when it breaks out more gloriously, doth rejoice over those mists and clouds that seemed to obscure it; but the joy of the wicked, like a candle, wastes and spends (being fed with gross fuel of outward prosperity, which in a short time fails) and the wretch's comfort goes out in a snuff at last, past all hope of being lighted again. The Christian's trouble of spirit again is compared to a swooning fainting fit, which he within a while recovers; Psal. lx. a qualm comes over a holy man's heart, from the thought of his sins, in the day of his great distress, verse 12. Innumerable evils have compassed me about; mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am unable to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me;" but, before the Psalm is at an end, after a few deep groans in prayer, verse 13, 14. he come sagain to himself, and acts his faith strongly on God, verse 17. "Yet the Lord thinketh on me; thou art my help, and my deliverer." But the bypocrite's confidence and hope, when once it begins to sink and falter, it dies and perisheth. "The eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape; their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost." Jab xi. 20.

CHAP. XI.

THAT THE GOSPEL ALONE CAN UNITE THE HEARTS OF

MEN TOGETHER IN TRUE PEACE, AND HOW THE GOSPEL DOTH IT.

WE come now to the third kind of peace, which I called a peace of love and unity. A heavenly grace this is, whereby the minds and hearts of men, that even now jarred and rang backwards, are made tuneable each to the other, so as to chime all into an harmonious consent and concord among themselves. Thus peace in Scripture is frequently taken, as you may see, Mark ix. 50. Heb. xiii. 14. 1 Thess. v. 13. Now the Gospel is a Gospel of peace, if taken in this notion also, which we shall briefly speak to from this note.

Note. That the Gospel, and only the Gospel, can knit the hearts and minds of men together in a solid peace and love. This (next the reconciling us to God and ourselves) is especially designed by Christ in the Gospel; and truly those without this would not fill up the saint's happiness; except God should make a Heaven for every Christian by himself to live in. John the Baptist's ministry (which was as it were the preface to and brief contents of the Gospel) was divided into these two heads: "To turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God," Luke i. 16, "and to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children." verse 17. That is, to make them friends with God and one another. This is the natural effect of the Gospel, where it is powerfully and sincerely embraced, to unite and endear the hearts of men and women in love and peace together, how contrary soever they were before. This is the strange metamorphosis, which the Prophet speaks shall be under the Gospel, Isa. xi. 8. "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard lie down with the kid;" that is men and women, between whom there was as great feud and enmity as is betwixt those creatures, they shall yet sweetly agree, and lie in one another's bosoms 3 G

VOL. II.